Shows about the classic Kiwi pub quiz and New Zealand's biggest rail accident have been named as finalists in one of the world's most prestigious television awards.

Auckland actress Rose McIver will face off against Hollywood heavyweights including Julianne Moore at the Monte Carlo Television Festival for the title of Outstanding Actress in a Television Film for her role in Tangiwai - A Love Story, the story of the fateful rail disaster in 1953.

The 23-year-old, who lives in LA, previously starred in Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones.

Her Tangiwai co-star Ryan O'Kane has been nominated for Outstanding Actor and the film has been nominated for the Best TV Film Award alongside 11 others including the BBC's Bert and Dickie and HBO's Game Change.

Nothing Trivial, the hit TVNZ series centred on a pub quiz team of five friends and their love lives, has also been favoured by the judges.

It is up against international shows including Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire for the title of best Drama TV Series.

The show's actors have also been recognised, with Tandi Wright and Nicole Whippy nominated for Outstanding Actress alongside former ER actress Juliana Margulies, while Blair Strang and Shane Cortese will fight it out with the likes of Steve Buscemi and Peter Dinklage for Outstanding Actor.

The Monte-Carlo Television Festival was created in 1961 by Prince Rainier III of Monaco, with an eye to "encourage a new art form, in the service of peace and understanding between men".

The top prize in the festival is a statuette, a gold copy of the Salmacis Nymph by the Monegasque sculptor François Joseph Bosio, commonly known as a Golden Nymph.

Winners, selected by an international panel, will be announced at the Golden Nymph Award ceremony in Monte Carlo on June 14.